Genome complexity: de novo or orphan genes (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, August 28, 2015, 18:39 (3376 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: All explanations lead back to an endless chain of causes and effects, but not knowing the cause of something does not invalidate the effect or the subsequent chain of causes and effects. If genes can spring from nowhere, we may have a solution to the Cambrian mystery. The mechanism and its source are different mysteries. -DAVID: But nowhere is like nothing: no cause can be found if nothing is there.
-I take "from nowhere" to mean that we don't know the cause - not that there isn't a cause. If the cell can produce novelties, the cause of its ability to produce them may be some internal, inventive mechanism that we haven't discovered yet. If you think it's some divine computer programme, that hasn't been discovered either. 
 
DAVID: Can intelligence grow from no intelligence? If the first life had intelligence where did it come from, abiogenesis? That is a proposed chance happening.
 
dhw: According to you, intelligence can indeed grow from no intelligence, unless you think God had an intelligent predecessor. No need to go over the “First Cause” cop-out again, as it always ends up with you believing one version of it, and me neither believing nor disbelieving any version. -DAVID: Like Einstein who wanted an eternal universe, I propose an eternal initial intelligence.-I don't think your proposal of an eternal intelligence is anything like the proposal of an eternal universe. However, I'm impressed by the morale-raising implications of your comparison. Like Shakespeare, I write plays.